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WI Attorney General Battles State Over Voter Registration Checks
As the presidential election nears, and Wisconsin proves itself to once again be a battleground state, J.B. Van Hollen, the state attorney general and co-chair of the Wisconsin McCain campaign, is raising the specter of voting fraud.
Van Hollen filed suit earlier this month, against the state Government Accountability Board (GAB) which oversees elections in Wisconsin, demanding that they verify all of the voter registrations made since January 2006 against a new state database created under the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) -- a Herculean task that the board had decided to forgo with just six weeks to go until the election.
The GAB claims to be in full compliance with HAVA, stating that retro-active voter registration checks through the database are not mandated by federal law.
The database compares registration data with drivers license records. It just got up and running in Wisconsin a few weeks ago, but the program seems to still be working out the kinks -- one of the reasons the GAB is hesitant to hold the database accountable for validating registrations.
"In its deliberations, the Board was concerned about preliminary data that
showed more than a fifth of voters' data mismatched due to variations in names,
differing data entry standards, or typographical errors," a GAB press release responding to Van Hollen's suit said. "A check conducted of GAB members' data resulted in four of six Board members' information mis-matching."
The result, state Democrats say, would be widespread disenfranchisement and suppressed voter turnout. They claim Van Hollen's demands for database checking are motivated by his role in the McCain campaign, an allegation Van Hollen has denied.
"There was no discussion with anybody involved in leadership with the Republican Party (or the McCain campaign) about this lawsuit before it was brought," Van Hollen said last Thursday.
But yesterday, the Wisconsin Republican Party chairman came forward to say he had multiple conversations with Van Hollen's deputy attorney general, Ray Taffora, specifically discussing the handling of the lawsuit, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. The Friday before, another Department of Justice attorney in the lawsuit admitted meeting with Republican Party representatives in the week before the suit was filed.
The Dane County Court will hear motions for the case tomorrow, including a motion to disqualify Van Hollen. The attorney for the GAB argues that because Van Hollen represents the state, and the GAB is a state entity, Van Hollen cannot sue a party he represents. Both the Democratic and Republican parties of Wisconsin have filed motions to intervene in the lawsuit.
Obama needs to hire an attorrney and take this lawsuit seriously. These battles are where the election is one. Send in Boies.
September 23, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
won not one. idiot
September 23, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
"There was no discussion with anybody involved in leadership with the Republican Party (or the McCain campaign) about this lawsuit before it was brought," Van Hollen said last Thursday."
-J.B. Van Hollen
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
September 23, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The GAB should just purge all Republicans from the voter rolls and be done with it.
September 23, 2008 6:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
This affects anyone who, for example, has dropped an initial they used to use... but somehow it continued on the driver's license. What are they gonna do when people show up with passports that match the voter registration - even though the driver's license has an extra initial.... that an older passport used?
This whole thing stinks to high heaven!
September 23, 2008 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a bold fresh piece of, he is!
September 23, 2008 6:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
This changes nothing. I looked at Wisconsin voter registration laws, and there is a requirement to reregister if one has moved or undergone a name change.
However, if a voter is not found to be on the voting rolls, you can REGISTER THAT DAY with valid identification.
There will be no disenfranchisement nor voter suppression because of this.
The only notable thing is a Republican lying about it.
September 23, 2008 6:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Before anyone gets it in their heads to scream about "voter fraud" (as Repubs and right wing bloggers are in Wisconsin), here's a great posting about how the AG himself probably would fail the data match he's suing over:
http://www.milwaukeeworld.com/blog/2008/09/van-hollen-or-vanhollen-jbs-voting.html#links
September 23, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
If there is heavy turnout, as is expected, and 20% of the people who show up at the polls turn out to have a name-matching problem, then the extra time to discover the problem, explain to the voter what to do about it, and re-register is going to slow the lines down considerably, which will almost inevitably lead to some people giving up on voting because they need to get to work, or they need to pick up the kids, and have not got the time to wait in long lines.
Not to mention that there is a good chance that some significant number of people will not have the necessary identification with them. (The address on my driver's license is a PO box, for example; I have almost nothing that shows my actual street address.)
They don't need to actually bar people from the polls to affect the vote; all they have to do is to gum the works up sufficiently to make the process highly inconvenient, and that is likely to have a more negative effect on Democratic voters than Republican ones.
September 23, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly so. That happened in Ohio in the last election and many people wound up not voting because the lines and the wait was too long. They didn't have enough properly functioning voting machines in some precincts. Those precincts happened to be urban and often African American, i.e. heavily democratic.
September 24, 2008 12:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was a poll watcher in 2004. And I can assure you that many people get discouraged and give up when presented with hurdles to voting. Whether it is long lines or a challenge to their registration or news that they must go elsewhere to vote or anything else that can happen - many poor or disadvantaged or minority individuals may simply give up and not vote.
September 24, 2008 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's voter suppression by the GOP. You know why, it's what they do. The AG's suit is totally uncalled for:
http://www.truthaboutfraud.org/case_studies_by_state/wisconsin_2004.html
They call Van Hollen "God's cop" in Wisconsin because of his bias in favor of church over state.
September 23, 2008 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boy, this guy even has that slimy look about him.
I'm formerly from Wisconsin and he was running for office right before I moved.
September 23, 2008 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
The voter fraud the Democrats have been engaging in in Milwaukee and Madison for years will be business as usual in this election. They always find a way around the rules no matter what the rules are. Not that it matters. Whether a Democrat wins or a Republican wins, we all lose.
September 23, 2008 8:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're joking, right? Unless you consider people like this part of a criminal racket:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/158555.php
September 23, 2008 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your hate filled post is very obvious. I have family in Wisconsin and they are Republicans and they are totally embarrassed that their party thinks they cannot win on the merits of the issues. I think they are true Christians and are chagrined at the malfeasance and stupidity of this guy.
September 24, 2008 4:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
They are at it again--attempting to steal the election.
September 23, 2008 8:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
God please bless America and move these crooks, liers and theives out of our lives.
September 23, 2008 8:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
The problem is Election Fraud and Voter Supression . . . NOT VOTER FRAUD.
September 23, 2008 9:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, Dentifrice, I think the only thing that is not notable about the story is that a Republican is lying. I'm just sayin'.
September 23, 2008 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
His lawsuit demands that they verify and purge all the invalid new voter registrations, likely to be Obama voters, as 1) younger voters and 2) voters registered by Obama's voter registration efforts and 3) new enthusiasm among minorities/Dems.
But what would happen if they said--or threatened--"In fairness, we will have to check all existing voter registrations as well, starting with the earliest registrations, moving forward. And we will only purge those that we manage to get through prior to election day." That would probably disproportionately disenfranchise older people and Republicans, especially since the more recently you registered, the more likely your current name and address match what you put down.
The Democrats in the GAB should threaten this "compromise" and see how quickly Johnny boy drops the suit and then sues to stop the check.
September 23, 2008 10:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Check out this chilling Federalist Society link to a video with Van Hollen as a panelist. The title explains it all.
http://www.fed-soc.org/publications/pubID.358/pub_detail.asp
September 23, 2008 11:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Love the link provided by PurpleAvenger above!
I think all that we Wisconsinites have to do is take a bill or some other piece of mail with our name and address on it, and a photo ID, to the polls.
I know I'm going to take the mail, just in case, and I'm advising my friends to do the same.
*sigh* this election is going to be a mess.
September 24, 2008 12:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone with any experience in datamining will tell you that that doing a match like this is inherently messy, you will NEVER get 100% matching. Also, the idea of purging voters based on such a match is should be unconstitutional as their is no "Right to drive" encompassed in the Constitution. If anything, a bad match should result in loss of driving privileges, certainly not loss of voting. Since the WI-AG is in charge of enforcing driving laws, but is not in charge of enforcing voting laws, maybe he should be working on that.
September 24, 2008 5:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here is the text of HAVA regarding the so-called 'match':
But, and this is VERY important, the match cannot be used as a basis for purging a voter off the rolls, the purpose of the match is only maintain the accuracy of the information about the voter. Here is the very short list of criteria for purging a voter:
September 24, 2008 6:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Imagine the number of people who feel threatened by this. Simply threatened. If they lack the means to stand up for themselves, they may not vote or they simply leave the polling place if challenged.
Another subset of people will spend time pestering local officials at their city, just to make sure that their registration cannot be challenged.
I know someone who plans to go to the poll very early in the morning, with photo ID's from driver's license and passport. Why? The passport shows the person's name just as the registration shows it. But the driver's license has an extra initial, a legal initial, dropped long ago even from the passport!
Nevertheless, should the voter's registration be challenged, the person I know fully intends to alert the press, the local DA's office, and Josh Marshall, among others.
September 24, 2008 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
thanks, Loric!
But a heads up about what you need to register - can't just be any piece of mail (that's a common error about the rules) - to register you gotta bring something like a utility bill, mail sent by the gov't, a bank statement, university/tech college ID, or other "official" kinds of documents. Here's the list (and spread the word so we get it right!!!)
http://elections.state.wi.us/faq_detail.asp?faqid=119&fid=27&locid=47
September 24, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
"There was no discussion with anybody involved in leadership with the Republican Party (or the McCain campaign) about this lawsuit before it was brought," Van Hollen said last Thursday."
As co-chair of the McCain WI campaign, isn't Van Hollen considered "leadership"? How again does that work, that he is able to be AG and co-chair of a campaign?
September 24, 2008 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't understand why the Democrats do not call out the GOP as being UNPATRIOT about this. They are attempting to take away a person's Constitutional Right which seems very un-American. If the DEMs were doing this, the GOP wold be labeling the DEMs as America haters, unpatriotic, discriminators, racists, et al. It is important to sue and fight these attempts in court, but the court of public opinion could do a lot more if they made this a national media issue.
September 24, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, this brings us back to the Reconstruction Amendments, equal right to due process, etc.
The GOP is trying to do everything they can to wipe away the lingering stain of egalitarianism left by their history as the "party of Lincoln."
September 24, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let the caging begin! These people are unbelievable. If they can't win an election by fair means, by all means, use foul means.
September 24, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would think that in most states, making knowingly false statements about a pending lawsuit would be cause for an Attorney General to be removed. Let's see if we can get the liar under oath.
September 24, 2008 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink